Responsible Gambling in Canada

Gambling is money spent on entertainment. It is not income and it is not a route back from a loss. If it has stopped feeling like entertainment, this is the most useful page on this site.

Free confidential help

country. provincial health website.

• ConnexOntario — 1-866-531-2600. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day.
• Gamblers Anonymous and Gambling Therapy run free groups online and in person across the
• Every province funds its own problem-gambling service, most with a 24-hour line, listed on your

Signs worth taking seriously

• Staking more than you decided to, or more than you could lose without it mattering.
• Increasing a deposit in order to chase a loss back.
• Borrowing, selling or concealing things in order to keep playing.
• Being less than honest with people close to you about how much or how often.
• Playing to escape stress or low mood rather than for enjoyment.
• Feeling relief rather than enjoyment when a session ends.

Tools that genuinely work. Licensed operators must provide deposit limits, loss limits, session reminders, cooling-off periods and permanent self-exclusion. Set them on the day you open the account, while you are calm, and treat them as fixed afterwards. A limit you can lift on request in the moment is not a limit.

Ontario players can use the province's central self-exclusion scheme for regulated operators. Offshore sites sit outside it, which is a further reason to set limits inside every account you hold.

If someone else's gambling is what worries you, the services above support family members too. You do not need the gambler's permission to make that call.